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History

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The capital is Washington, D.C.

The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence. A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.

Throughout the 19th century, the United States expanded its territory across North America, coming into conflict with Mexico in the Mexican–American War and forcefully displacing Native American tribes. American expansionism also fueled tensions over African slavery and ultimately led to the American Civil War. The Union won the war over the defeated Confederate States in April 1865, and prohibiting slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment. However, Black Americans faced racial segregation and prejudice, especially in the American southern states.

By the early 20th century, the United States emerged as a global economic and military power driven by the Industrial Revolution, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants, and rapid settlement and development of the American Old West. The United States participated in World War I in 1917 and ensuring Allied victory. The 1920's saw the women's rights movement, mass communication, and a period of prosperity. The so-called Roaring Twenties ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. After the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American government enacted Roosevelt's New Deal programs. It is during this time that the first superheroes, or known as "mystery-men," appear. The premier superhero team of this era was the Justice Society of America.

The United States remained neutral during the outbreak of World War II until the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers. After the Allied victory in Europe against Nazi Germany, the United States developed its first nuclear weapon and used them on destroying the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; causing Japan, the last Axis nation, to surrender. America emerged from the post-World War II era as a global power and competed against the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

Throughout the Cold War, the United States developed a policy of containment towards the expansion of communist influence. America and its Soviet rival engaged in proxy wars, but avoided direct military conflict. The United States also engaged in the Space Race and became the first nation to land a man on the Moon. Because of anti-communist sentiment in the United States, various American people were accused of being communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government agencies. Superheroes were also treated with suspicions in which it led to the Justice Society and others to retire.[1] The so-called "Red Scare" began to decline in the late 1950's after changed public sentiment and the anti-communist trial verdicts were overturned or declared unconstitutional.

In the 1960's the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum that ended racial segregation and allowing laws that made discrimination illegal and provided federal oversight to guarantee voting rights. American society was also polarized by American intervention in the Vietnam War and culminating in anti-war and anti-draft protests, and fueling the growth of the counterculture movement.

Under the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980's, America abandoned its containment policy and developed a hawkish approach to the Cold War. However, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union began to thaw and both countries agreed to eliminate the number of nuclear missiles in their arsenals. This eventually led to the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The United States of contemporary times is a highly developed country and has a post-industrial economy. American society is ethnically and racially diverse as a result of large-scale immigration from many different countries throughout its history. The country host a wide range of superheroes such as the Justice League of America, the revived Justice Society of America, and the Teen Titans.